Ugi Should Have Warned Firemen, Expert Testifies

A former UGI Corp. employee, testifying as a safety expert, said yesterday UGI should have advised firemen about perils they faced during two gas explosions in Allentown in 1976.

The second explosion killed two firemen and injured two.

Alfred Baccini testified in Lehigh County Court that it was UGI's "duty to report to the firemen and explain the hazards and suggest that the area be evacuated for complete safety to firemen and anybody else in the area."

The attorneys for the two firemen who were injured and the administrators of the estates of the two who were killed contend that UGI breached its duty of exercising the "highest standard of care practicable" before and during the explosions.

Baccini, president of the Ellis Engineering Co., Inc., consulting engineers in Ocean City, N.J., was the last witness for the firemen on the eighth day of testimony in the nonjury trial before President Judge John E. Backenstoe.

Former city fireman Mickey K. Keiper, who was injured in the second explosion in the 1100 block of Oak Street on Aug. 8, 1976, is joined in the suit against UGI by Robert Dressell, who also was injured, and Eugene J. McGinley and Linda Berger, administrators of the estate of John F. McGinley and William H. Berger, firemen who were killed.

Allentown Atty. Richard F. Stevens, representing UGI, has contended that the firemen, injured while performing their duties of fighting a fire, cannot seek damages from a party allegedly responsible for the cause of the fire.

The first explosion occurred at 2 p.m. at 1127 Oak St., and the second happened about 20 minutes later across the street at 1130 Oak St.

Attys. Bernard O'Hare, Robert Bauer and Michael Riskins, counsel for the firemen, contend there were many "should haves" in citing UGI's alleged neglect.

They said a malfunction of a pressure regulator at 19th and Tilghman streets earlier the day of the explosions caused a greater flow of gas to the Oak Street line.

They allege the gas that escaped from a cracked main on Oak Street which caused the explosion was escaping at a higher rate because of increased pressure in the gas line and more gas escaped than ordinarily would have.

Baccini said UGI servicemen who had keys to lock boxes should have checked pressure at other regulator stations after they discovered there was a malfunction in the regulator.

"When they (servicemen) saw the extent of the first explosion and the width of the street, if they had been trained to properly evaluate the situation, they should have said the hazard is greater than the fire you are trying to extinguish . . . and evacuated the area," Baccini said.

He said the servicemen at the scene did not have the expertise to evaluate the situation, adding, "which they should have."

Stevens asked Baccini if he was aware that residents were trying to get back to their homes and firemen were keeping them away.

"Who then takes over the job of keeping people from the area" if firemen are evacuated also? Stevens asked.

Baccini said police and firemen in other municipalities cordon off the hazardous area.

The first explosion reportedly caused the collapse of an already formed sinkhole under part of the Oak Street main and the break of the four-inch gas main.

The attorneys contend that UGI should have told firemen of the possibility of a second explosion and evacuated the area until the gas could be controlled.

UGI should have had a quicker way of cutting off the gas than they did, the attorneys claimed, saying the gas was controlled at about 4 p.m. with inflatable plugs.

The lawyers argued that UGI should have used radar devices to detect the hole and replace the cast iron pipe in Oak Street with a steel pipe.

William Agocs, a geophysicist, and Baccini testified that steel pipes will sag when under stress but cast iron does not have the bending capabilities of steel and will break.

The cast iron pipe was unsupported when the sinkhole opened.

Baccini said cast iron pipes should be replaced by steel pipes wherever there is a possibility of unstable ground developing, adding the Lehigh Valley is "pretty close to the top" of a list of 15 areas in the country that are sinkhole-prone.

UGI has contended that a copper water pipe was installed by the city too close to the cast iron pipe and led to a weakening of the pipe and the eventual gas leak that caused the first explosion.

Agocs called putting copper on top of any pipe "poor practice."

Baccini said steel pipe also will be affected by copper and will develop holes and gas leaks.

He testified that he's not suggesting all cast iron pipes be removed but that UGI should have "an accurate and ongoing way of determining whether the lines are losing their means of support" because of sinkholes.

Stevens contended that an independent contractor is employed by UGI to ensure the integrity of the lines.

Baccini disputed Stevens' remarks, saying UGI's checks were "after-the- fact " checks that picked up leaks in order to excavate and repair the pipes.

"I think it would be more prudent to determine what's happening to the lines before a leak occurs," he said. "Every potential leak is a potential catastrophe."

In reply to Stevens' questions, Baccini said handbooks are available that tell firemen and others responding to an emergency what to do at gas explosion sites and in other emergencies.